Courage and Success

It is not because things are difficult that we do not dare; it is because we do not dare because they are difficult.”-SENECA Success, ultimately, essentially and above everything else, fully depends on the ability, boldness as well as courage for completion of any work. Stamina of mind, willpower, dedication and perseverance stimulate the boldness and courage and create ability which makes a man successful. The starting point of success, truly then is positive thinking, faith in self with hope and optimism. In this world, everything is possible by dint of ability, dogged determination and willpower. Ability to face any challenge coupled with motto, concentration on a single objective, dedication and devotion to attaining success. Never bother about the results, keep on going even if the pace is slow and ensure that it remains steady. We are bound to face obstacles en route to success, but with courage and boldness, these could be overcome smoothly. Positive attitude and clear frame of mind determine our future. In this world of action, there is no such thing as CHANCE. By our own ideas, will and ability, we can create a number of chances, circumstances, and the desired atmosphere to reach the desired goal.

Always and ever be a fighter and never be a quitter. Winners never quit, quitters never win. Impossible is possible for the person who traverses all labyrinths of failures bravely without getting frustrated. Faith works like a miracle. It looks beyond all boundaries, transcends all limitations, conquers all obstacles and carries us to reach goal. Therefore, faith, courage and boldness create ability and boost one to March ahead to achieve the ultimate goal. There cannot be any shortcut to success. The toil of years, the sweat of our brow, struggle you make everything counts in achieving the goal. Looking at the biographies of great men. We find that the most successful biographies of great men, we find that the most successful persons whether inventors,artists,scientists,technocrats,sculptures,leaders and workers, of any kind, all owe their success to their indefatigable hard work and dedication. When the greatest scientist of the past century, ALBERT EINSTEIN said,” I never think of the future.

It comes soon enough”, he meant to express his preoccupation with the present and the importance he attached to it. In other words, he wanted to convey to us the importance of action which is always possible in the present itself. And every action calls for self-confidence; a belief in yourself; the conviction that you can do it. For instance, if you want promotion in your job, want to save money for some purpose or want to improve your score, you ought to first act as if it were possible, because it will alone give you confidence that you can do it. When you act as if some task were possible, you start focusing on it. Once you start focusing on it, you behave as if the event had actually happened. In fact, a great writer has expressed this idea in this way –“The best way to predict future is to invent it”. For example, if you are keen on getting a promotion at work, you start focusing on the opportunities. Those opportunities you might have missed if you had not focused on the promotion as a probability. In fact, experts are of the opinion that when you act as if something was possible or probable; you begin to send the message to your mind that you are seeking promotion.

The natural result is that you start dressing, talking, feeling and thinking as if you were already the person you would beef you were doing the new job. This positive and focused behavior will set you up for success. The people will very easily notice that you are more upbeat and enthusiastic in your approach. Most likely, before you know you would have landed the promotion you had set your mind on. This implies that with your self-confidence and focus you have actually incented it. Man is by nature apprehensive. Not only you, but others also easily become stuck and avoid taking even the first step towards the goal, because all lack confidence. Lack of confidence is how you punish yourself for having made a mistake or not achieving your goal. Abstain from using the terms like “wrong”,” doing it badly”,” poor performance” or “failed”. Remember that labeling everything “good” or “bad” is the result of conditioned thinking. It shows not only your lack of confidence but also lack of originality. Judge the situation, learn from it, and then decide to move forward with determination. It will certainly yield a positive result.

Never lose track of the fact that only those people have not put a wrong step who have stopped learning. And those who have stopped learning cannot put a right step either. You have to bear in mind that even though you have a reasonably good track record, the lack of confidence can easily stop you from fulfilling your potential. All that you want to achieve cannot be possible. You may fail in your mission sometimes. There will be occasions when you achieve your objectives and sometimes you do not. It is worth learning from the experience of an unsuccessful outcome, but it is not prudent to carry it on with you into your future. In other words if you carry on with your failures into your future, there is all likelihood that you will remain unhappy and not feel like doing anything with all your enthusiasm that can result in success. Just because you did not succeed at something in the past does not mean that you will succeed at it. You can never plan the future by the past. The great English writer, the first lexicographer of the English language, Dr. Samuel Johnson has written: “The future is purchased by the present.”

According to Longfellow, “the heights by great men reached and kept were not attained by sudden flight. But they, while their companions slept, were toiling upward in the night.” Success is an ever-approaching target. One who puts his best in pursuit of excellence, he reaches nearer to goal. Full dedication, high degree of devotion cut the time to half. History tells us that all the successful personalities were determined and devoted fully to achieve whatever they thought or desired. In fact, enthusiasm is the best asset of a person. Self-determination and hard-work can achieve anything. Failure of any kind does not deter them but make them fiercer and more dedicated to achieve the goal. Failures are natural happenings, and all successful men faced failures of many kinds, but they worked with more zeal, more determined enthusiasm, analyzed their shortcomings and tried again and got success. If you want a miracle, be the miracle and achieve success with great weapon, which can knock down any difficulty i.e. provide confidence.

Take the example of Late Dhirubhai Ambani, an entrepreneur. He started merely with investment of Rs.15000 and made it a multinational Reliance Group of Companies with assets worth multi-billion dollar. It looks unimaginable, unbelievable, but it is a fact, the strong seven-letter word ‘success’ is only applicable to this type of personality. The secret story of his success were his full dedication , devotion, diligence, boldness, courage to do something extraordinary, which raised him to such heights. He was honoured with so many national and inter-national awards in recognition of his ability. One of his public speeches goes like this: “Be daring. Think big. You can be the best. If you believe in this, you will be the best.” It completely indicates courage to work, to create opportunity to fulfill the ambition. He was a big gun with boldness to do that doers required. His other quotes are: “Meeting the deadlines is not good enough, beating the deadlines is my expectation”; “Don’t give up”; “Courage is my conviction.”

To attain desired goal, we have to laugh at our troubles and have to forget them. When we laugh at trouble, we will find it to be a mere bubble, which is swiftly blown away. To gather the fruit, to register victory, to score success, we require unwavering faith in self. Faith works like a miracle. Therefore, faith and courage go side by side to assist us to touch the goal or ambition overriding difficulties. Without moral courage, nobody will get success. Moral courage is very rare and it is found in very excellent individuals. There are numerous instances where people have bravely used their physical courage and saved the life of a drowning man or a house from burning in fire, etc. But there are few cases where the common people are found to open their mouth against an unfair or unjust deed that they witness, because they lack moral courage. Noble may be the cause in which physical courage is shown, but nobler is the cause in which moral courage is displayed. Let us take the example of Pandit Iswar Chandra Vidyasagar who is known for his noble character and moral courage.

The man was highly educated, but hardly with any extraordinary physical strength. Yet he was endowed with tremendous moral courage. He did not hesitate to raise his voice of protest against the wicked Europeans who used to rule the country then with enormous power. He had also ignored all sorts of humiliation at the hands of his own countrymen, when he was determined to get the bill for ‘Hindu Widow Remarriage’ passed by the government. The success goes to show his wonderful courage, boldness and ability with noble character. It is they who live in honour, die in glory and have the privileges of being adored by all. Mr. Nelson Mandela, the former president of South Africa, is the glaring example of the fact that impossibilities work as a boon for continuous attempt towards possibilities. He succeeded in his fight against apartheid in his country despite facing a lot of difficulties. There are so many examples of success, which show that the word ‘impossible’ is not in their dictionary but faith is present.

“Never, never run yourself down. Never express yourself as being inferior, for if you do, you will believe what you say”, has been said by a great man. We should start our own work with dedication, motivation and should be unattached with results. Our attitude should be right. Success will definitely come with a resolute, positive and committed attitude. “Attitudes are more important than facts.” By changing negative attitude, we can shed our tormenting fears, doubts, despair and inferiority complex. Just as the dust tarnishes even the brightest of a gem, despair too contaminates the virtues of the wise. This implies that we can do anything if we will to do it. The WILL is like a hammer that shatters glass, but forges steel. “A determination, which is as strong as STEEL makes everything possible in any arena and gives success.” From Student to Vice-Chancellor, Commentator to Actor, Singer to Composer, Worker to Leader, Humanitarian to Parliamentarian and manager to business tycoon-all have accepted work is worship to get success by overcoming all the difficulties.

God gives gifts to man with talent, it is the man’s grit, perseverance and iron-will, which help him to succeed, excel and attain glorious heights in the field of his choice. Someone can write, some can dance and some can play. Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore, prolific poet Kazi Nazrul Islam, Sahitya academy and Jnanpith award winner Ashapurna Devi- all were self-motivated and dedicated writers. They had no formal education; still they achieved success only by dint of firm determination and continuous sincere efforts. Similarly, Srinivasa Ramanujan was a college dropout, Bill Gates did not complete his graduation, Sachin Tendulkar did not complete his school education, but they are famous all over the world for their glorious achievements in their respective fields. All achievers have faced challenges but never stopped till they achieved success. Ratan Tata, Lakshmi Mittal, Ambani Brothers, Indra Nooyi, Amitabh Bachchan, Sourav Ganguly are also some of the famous examples of doers in their respective fields. So, last but not the least, Success comes only with Boldness, Ability and Courage. Success and Excellence always go side by side.” Run after excellence, Success will follow you.”